A letter that former President Abraham Lincoln wrote in the middle of the Civil War in 1863 has just sold to an anonymous person for $60,000.

The letter had been recently bought by The Raab Collection, a representative from which has since confirmed that it has been sold already. In the Christmas letter, Lincoln showed mercy to the Craig family, who were cousins of his wife Mary Todd Lincoln. The Craigs had found themselves on death’s door, and they had written to Lincoln asking for permission to return to the Arkansas land they’d been turfed off.

Lincoln sympathized with them and wrote that they should be allowed to return to their plantation without interference from Union forces.

“Mr. and Mrs. Craig, of Arkansas, whose plantation, situated upon the Mississippi River a few miles below Helena, has been desolated during the present war, propose returning to reoccupy and cultivate said plantation,” Lincoln wrote. “(And) it is my wish that they be permitted to do so, and that the United States military forces in that vicinity will not molest them or allow them to be molested, as long as the said Mr. and Mrs. Craig shall demean themselves as peaceful, loyal citizens of the United States.”

Charley Craig died soon after the letter was written, and his wife Susan passed away two years later.

Nathan Raab of The Rabb Collection praised Lincoln for having mercy on the couple.

“It’s uncommon to find something where a figure of such great prominence and historical importance is connecting so personally on such a national level,” Raab said. “You get a rare behind-the-scenes look and insight into how the war affected Lincoln himself.”

“(He) issues this remarkable order in what can only be described as a kind gesture toward his family, but which is symbolic of some of the broader things that he was doing in the nation to try and heal a country, which was being torn apart at the seams,” he continued.

With our country as divided as it is right now, it’s nice to see a historical document like this come to light in which  Lincoln showed unity for his fellow Americans despite the aftermath of an ugly war.